


The Silence and the Dark

by MakingStarsShine



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Metahuman Reader, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-03-27
Packaged: 2018-10-11 14:09:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10466820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MakingStarsShine/pseuds/MakingStarsShine
Summary: This was a request by @thehatmeister for numbers 10: “You know damn well why things are the way they are”, and 12: “Let go” off the angst prompts list. So here it is, my angsty brain baby. Hope you all enjoy it!





	

“You know damn well why things are they way they are.” Cisco stood, silently staring at you in the wake of your words. You were absolutely right, he did know why things were this way, why you were locked in the pipeline, why he was standing on the other side of the glass, heart shattered into a million pieces, fighting every fiber of his being not to push a few simple control to let you out. He could remember every single event that had lead to this moment, all the way back to Barry creating Flashpoint, what he didn’t know however, was how he hadn’t noticed the signs before.

 

 

“This isn’t you,” he replied quietly, “this is your powers talking, just like Caitlin with Killer Frost,” he swallowed, his mouth going dry as his genius level intellect scrambled to find some piece of evidence to corroborate his words. In reality, none of this made any sense, sure Caitlin had been through the ringer in the relationship department, but becoming so cold and heartless was absurd given her normal state of character; the same was true of you, your bravery and kindness, was part of what held the team together, you were Cisco’s partner in crime fighting, you were there with a smile or a joke when he was too damaged to be...so why did you become this?

 

 

“You’re changing the subject,” you sneered back at him, crossing your arms over your chest, “is it because you don’t want to say it out loud?” you jeered at him, “You don’t want to put words to the fact that you didn’t see this coming? You don’t want to admit, that even with your multiverse vision, Cisco Ramon was too weak to notice his friend was becoming a monster?!”

 

 

“You’re not a monster,” Cisco argued in his same quiet monotone, “you can fight this, you can beat this,” he shook his head, “you have to Y/N, you have to fight it, otherwise you’re gonna spend a lot of time in this cell, and we need you-”

 

 

“ _You_ need me,” you corrected him, cutting him off, “don’t be a coward Cisco, we both know this isn’t about the rest of the team, otherwise they’d be here giving me a hero speech with you,” you stepped forward, pressing a clawed hand against the glass of your cell, a malicious smile on your face as you locked eyes with him. “Reverb was right about you, nothing but cheap parlor tricks, hiding behind the real heroes while you tinker around in your windowless workshop, too afraid to step up and move past being a side kick because deep, deep down, you still need someone to tell you that you can, and Barry Allen is a liar, so all his encouragement is worthless, and Caitlin Snow is too wrapped up in her own problems to help you with yours. Iris, Wally, Joe, Julian, even that annoying twit HR look right through you, why shouldn’t they? You make it so easy for them.”

 

 

Cisco’s jaw was clenched tight, his hands balled into fists at his sides as he tried desperately to drown out your taunts. But you knew him better than anyone, so you knew how to cut the deepest. “I’m not going to argue with you,” he said, his quiet monotone trembling at the edges, “you’re right, I do need you, you’re my friend and I care about you. That doesn’t change the fact that you can fight this-”

 

 

“I’M DONE FIGHTING THIS!” you roared at him, slamming your fist against the glass angrily. “I have been fighting this for two years now Cisco, every second, of every day, I have been fighting to keep this darkness down! But I’m through fighting it. It’s hight time I embraced what I am, just like you’ve embraced what you are.” You stepped back from the glass, letting your arms fall to your sides as you let your powers emerge. Your entire body began to blur, becoming a human shaped gray mass, slowly getting darker, and darker, until your silhouette seemed to encompass a sentient black hole. “This is what I am, Vibe, the stillness at the end of existence, the darkness when the stars go out,” your voice was coming through the speakers like garbled radio static, and it made Cisco’s stomach turn, and his head throb, but he stood his ground as you raged at him. “I am death, and despair, and destruction Cisco, and no amount of words or cheap sentiments is going to change that.”

 

 

 

“Wanna bet?”

 

 

It wasn’t really a question, it was more of a challenge. Cisco knew that your powers were far too strong to keep dormant forever; but that day two years ago, the two of you had died together, vibrating hands through both your hearts as you faced down the man who would ultimately betray you all...and since then, your powers had been immutably linked, even if Cisco hadn’t seen it before. With deft fingers, he pressed the control panel to open your cell, eyes staying locked on you as the glass doors opened between you. In an instant you took your shot, surging towards him, expecting him to dodge allowing you to escape. But he didn’t, he did the last thing he could think of to save you, he held his ground, grabbing hold of you as tight as he could before forcing you both into a vibe.

 

 

“Let go!” you cried, your body returned to normal as the infinite vibrations of the multiverse swirled around you.

 

 

“Never,” came Cisco’s growled reply, “I’m never going to let you go Y/N, I’m never going to stop telling you that your are better than this, that you are stronger! Look around you! We are in this together, no matter what end of the spectrum our abilities put us on. You can be darkness and stillness all you want, because I’m your opposite, I will balance you out. Your powers are not good or bad, they’re yours, you decide what to do with them, you decide how to use them,” his grip on your arm tightened as he pulled your closer, staring down into your face as he drove his point home. “Everyone is always asking ‘what is the best course of action?’ ‘what do we do?’ ‘how do we move on?’ And there are times when those are the right things to ask, times when its best to jump into action to fix things. But there are just as many times, when the best thing to do is nothing at all. Sometimes darkness and stillness give you the clarity to make the right decisions…they don’t always bring destruction.”

 

 

 

“They do when given to me!” You cried, but it wasn’t in anger this time, it was in defeat. “These powers are too strong Cisco, I can’t control them and I can’t fight them,” you looked down at his hands on your arms, tears slipping down your cheeks as your shield of anger broke. “Theres nothing I can do now accept let them control me, and when that happens, I won’t be your friend anymore...I’ll be something else, something terrible.”

 

 

“Bullshit,” Cisco whispered, lifting your chin to look at him, “that’s fear talking, don’t listen,” he released your arms and the vibe faded around you, and as the world came back into view, you felt your powers dissipate completely, leaving your feeling hollow in the wake of your latest episode. “You are braver than you even realize Y/N,” Cisco went on, taking your face in his hands, “and if I can get the hang of my powers, then so can you, because you’re just as strong, if not stronger than I am.” He wiped your tears away with the pads of his thumbs, smiling down at you with his warm sunny smile that you loved. “We’ll figure this out together Y/N, I promise you that.”

 

 

You closed your eyes for a moment, taking in a breath as you let yourself feel the warmth of his hands on your skin, and the slow steady beating of your heart. Cisco was right, stillness and darkness weren’t always harbingers of doom, and with him fighting by your side, surely you could learn to control them. “Alright Cisco,” you whispered quietly, placing your hands over his on your face, “I’m...I’m sorry that I -”

 

 

“Don’t mention it,” Cisco replied easily, “I know you didn’t mean it.”

 

 

You nodded silently in confirmation, then you allowed yourself to be pulled into his arms for a well needed hug. “Thank you Cisco,” you breathed, feeling at home in his arms more than you ever had anywhere else.

 

 

“You’re welcome,” he replied softly, hugging you just a little tighter, determined to never let you go.


End file.
